How to Disable Gutenberg and Keep the Classic WordPress Editor

The release of WordPress 5.0 and the new Gutenberg block editor right around the corner, many people have asked: If I’m not ready, how can I keep the classic editor on my WordPress site?

While the Gutenberg editor offers an exciting new post and page editing experience, it’s understandable that you might want more time to get familiar with the block editor and test things out before going live.

Lucky for you, it’s easy to disable Gutenberg until you’re ready for it and keep the classic editor on your WordPress site. You can disable the block editor entirely or selectively phase it in—the choice is entirely yours.

First Things First: Make a Backup!

We can’t stress this enough. If you don’t have a complete backup of your site and database, go make one now. While the odds of anything going awry when updating to WordPress 5.0 are pretty low, it’s still possible something could break on your site. Trust us—if something does go wrong, you’ll be so glad you took the extra couple of minutes to make a good backup.

If you’ve never done this before, take a second to learn how to create a site backup. We also recommend testing updates on a staging site before pushing them to your live site.

Disable Gutenberg with the Classic Editor Plugin

If you’re not ready for the block editor when WordPress 5.0 arrives, you can install the Classic Editor plugin (developed by core WordPress contributors) to keep using the classic editor until you feel comfortable switching over.

This plugin offers two options:

Disable the Gutenberg block editor entirely

Configure settings to keep both Gutenberg and the classic editor active

At the time of writing, the core Gutenberg development team is considering whether or not the Classic Editor plugin should be included by default with WordPress 5.0 update.

Selectively Activate Using the Gutenberg Ramp Plugin

Adapting your site to the new Gutenberg block editor doesn’t have to be all or nothing. The folks at Automattic, the team behind WordPress.com and WordPress VIP, have created a helpful tool called the Gutenberg Ramp plugin.

With this plugin, you can activate the WordPress block editor selectively across your site—for example, you can choose to activate the block editor only on specific post types (such as events).